Combining professionalization and personalization in English long-term care: analyzing stakeholder views through a workforce lens

Care workers' practical autonomy emerged from our analysis of stakeholder narratives as a key aspect of improving care jobs (professionalization). This supports research findings that a higher degree of autonomy improves job satisfaction and it is a source of dignity in an undervalued occupation. Yet, autonomy is not explicitly included in definitions of professionalization in the context of English long-term care. This article contributes to the literature by conceptualizing care workers' autonomy as a dimension of professionalization, along with pay, terms and conditions of employment, training and registration. Secondly, the results contribute to the literature and to policy debates about the relationship between professionalization and personalization, two mechanisms of reforming long-term care systems globally. Our results demonstrate that there is a complex relationship between the two policy areas, characterized by synergies and tensions.